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ANOUSHKA SHANKAR – RISE

“It’s very much my own music and my journey and who I am right now,” says Anoushka, who turned 24 in June. “I felt like I was rising into that. On a personal level, Rise signifies growth. It was a step up for me. Not even up, just more into my own.”

On Rise—which was composed, produced and arranged by Anoushka—she collaborated with a select crew of virtuoso Eastern and Western musicians wielding a variety of both acoustic and electronic instruments, often engaging in unexpected ways to create tantalizing new sounds. And while Anoushka’s own sitar playing has evolved measurably—she learned at the feet of the master, after all—there are a couple of tracks on Rise on which she eschews the sitar all together in favor of allowing her voice to be heard by way of her compositions and arrangements instead. The result is a stunning and evocative work that will surely catapult Anoushka Shankar into the vanguard of the world music scene.

Although Rise is a bold departure for Anoushka and she is cognizant of her expanding horizons as an artist since embarking on the project, she ensures that, like her previous work, it is a “very Indian album. Coming into my own in this way musically has made me a better sitar player, but Rise is something that can connect to a lot more people.”

Ravi Shankar once commented to an interviewer, “I’m waiting for the day when people call me ‘Anoushka’s father.’” Anoushka blushes humbly at the thought. “You can’t compare me to a master of any kind,” she says. “I’m not my father by any means. But this album does feel much closer to me than anything I’ve done before.”